HONG KONG — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will make a rare international visit next week to attend a military parade in the Chinese capital, both countries said Thursday.
The parade in Beijing on Sept. 3 is being held to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
According to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, heads of state and government from 26 countries will be at the parade, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. North Korean state media also confirmed that Kim was attending the parade at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The United States and its allies are staying away from the event, partly out of protest over the presence of Putin, who faces an outstanding arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in his war against Ukraine.
The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry said that China and North Korea were “traditional friendly neighbors” and that the government “warmly” welcomed Kim to attend the parade, where China will display some of its most advanced weaponry.
“During the arduous years of war, the peoples of China and North Korea supported each other and fought side by side against Japanese aggression, making important contributions to the victory of the global anti-fascist war and the cause of human justice,” Hong Lei, director-general of the ministry’s Department of Protocol, told reporters.
Other leaders Xinhua said were attending include Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of the military government in Myanmar. No major Western leaders were on the list.
Kim rarely leaves North Korea, which has been isolated by international sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
North Korean state news agency KCNA did not say when he would leave for China, how long he would be there or whether he would have official meetings with Xi, Putin or any other leaders. Kim has not visited China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner, since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Though China has supported international sanctions against North Korea’s weapons programs, it is also an economic lifeline for Pyongyang, accounting for about 98% of its external trade last year.
China-North Korea ties have been strained in recent years by North Korea’s growing partnership with Russia, where North Korea has sent artillery and troops to support Moscow in its war against Ukraine. Experts say that in exchange Russia may be providing advanced military technology that North Korea could use for its weapons programs.
“North Korea is seeking to strengthen ties with China following its moves with Russia, thereby showcasing socialist solidarity among North Korea, China and Russia,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, South Korea, told NBC News.
Kim may also be preparing for the possible end of the war in Ukraine, said Cheong Seong-chang, vice president of the Sejong Institute, a think tank in Seoul.
“Although cooperation with Russia will continue, the ‘special’ leverage it has enjoyed would disappear, making restoration of ties with China timely,” he said in an email.
Kim’s last overseas trip was in September 2023, when he and Putin met at a spaceport in Russia’s Far East. Putin also made a trip to Pyongyang, where he and Kim signed a mutual defense pact in June 2024.
President Donald Trump, who had three in-person meetings with Kim during his first term, has repeatedly expressed interest in reviving denuclearization talks that broke down in 2019, including during a White House summit Monday with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
North Korea has dismissed the idea, saying Trump must accept it as a nuclear state.
South Korea said Thursday that it remained open to dialogue and cooperation with the North.
“We hope that North Korea–China relations will develop in a way that contributes to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and to peace and stability,” the foreign ministry said.
Jennifer Jett reported from Hong Kong, and Stella Kim from Los Angeles.
